Plenty of people in the UK choose to head overseas to spend their retirement rather than see out their days on these shores.

Some may be attracted by the potential to make their money stretch further, enjoy better weather, or simply be closer to their loved ones.

But which areas are becoming more popular with retirees? And which are rapidly falling out of favour?

A new study from InvestingReviews.co.uk has dug into the figures to pinpoint which countries have seen the largest increase in residents receiving the UK State Pension and those which have seen the largest decrease.

It has analysed the changes seen since 31st January 2020, when the UK left the European Union, known as ‘Brexit Day’.

So let's start by looking at the five most popular destinations for retirees.

Portugal has seen the fifth-greatest increase among retirees claiming their pension since 2020, according to the research.

It’s a location that has a long history of appealing to Brits, with notable communities of expats drawn by the great weather and food, as well as the fact it’s not all that far from the UK. 

The report found that, since Brexit Day, there has been an increase of 994 people receiving the State Pension in Portugal. That’s the equivalent of a 9% rise.

There can be few more dramatic retirement moves than to head from the UK to New Zealand, given the distance involved.

However, it’s clearly growing in popularity ‒ since 2020, there has been a jump of 1,258 people receiving the State Pension there.

It's not hard to see why New Zealand is a popular destination.

Not only do they speak the same language, you also benefit from a much sunnier climate.

Japan’s slot in third spot may come as something of a surprise, which may be a case of workers who have spent at least a decade in the UK choosing to head back to their roots in order to retire.

Since Brexit Day, the number of people living in Japan receiving the State Pension has increased by 1,310.

That works out at an increase of 24% on the previous levels.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, France has also proven popular among retirees.

Since Brexit Day, there has been a jump of 1,804 people receiving the State Pension in France, which equates to a 3% rise.

France’s proximity to the UK is undoubtedly a big draw here; you can benefit from the warmer weather while having simple and quick routes back to the UK to see your loved ones.

Surprisingly, the country to see the greatest increase in popularity among retirees since 2020 has been Poland.

Since ‘Brexit Day’, an extra 2,213 British pensioners have started claiming their State Pension from Poland, with the overall number having grown by 75% over that time period.

The report suggests that this could be in part due to Polish nationals heading home to retire, given that they can start claiming some level of pension with only 10 years of National Insurance contributions.

It’s also considered a relatively low-cost place to live, providing a further boost to those looking to make their retirement savings stretch as far as possible.

What about the other end of the scale, the nations that have seen the number of people receiving the State Pension fall?

Jamaica has seen the fifth biggest drop in numbers, falling by 3,540 since Brexit Day. That works out at a 24% drop.

Jamaica is of course a nation with long-standing links with the UK and boasts the combination of speaking English with an incredible climate.

However, it does suffer from relatively high levels of crime, according to Numbeo, the cost of living database.

Since Brexit Day there’s been a substantial drop in those receiving the State Pension in South Africa.

Over the last couple of years it’s fallen by 4,591, which is the equivalent of a 13% drop.

According to Numbeo, South Africa is ranked a relatively lowly 39th for quality of life, and scores poorly for safety and pollution.

Residents also have to contend with regular rolling blackouts.

Brits have been heading to the US for generations, whether for their working life or retirement, and while many are still doing that it’s undeniable that there has been a drop since 2020.

The InvestingReviews report found that the number of people in America receiving the State Pension has fallen by a whopping 9,034 since Brexit Day, around a 7% fall.

The USA is ranked 17th in the Numbeo analysis, and while it does really well for property prices compared with incomes, it doesn’t do so well on safety.

As with the US, the appeal of Canada is easy to see for retiring Brits.

There are plenty of areas near the US border where the weather is an improvement, it’s an English-speaking region, and it has long ties with the UK.

What’s more, it has a public health system somewhat comparable with our own NHS.

However, Numbeo's analysis ranked it a somewhat lowly 25th for quality of life and it doesn’t do well for safety.

These factors might play a part in why the number of retirees from the UK has fallen by 14,567 since 2020.

The country with the starkest decline is Australia, which has seen an enormous drop of 18,037 State Pension receivers since Brexit Day.

That’s the equivalent of a 7% decline.

Despite this, it remains the most popular retirement destination overall, given the combination of its great weather, existing British communities, and the fact that English is its national language.